Breaking The Silence: The Secret Health Issue One In Three Of Us Suffer From

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Wherever you’re reading this, look around you. Perhaps you are in a cafe, on a bus or maybe (whoops!) the office. Think about it. As many as one in three women suffer from bladder leakage. If you’re one of them and there are other women in the room, there are almost undoubtedly other sufferers around you.

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Of course, if you get chatting, it’s unlikely to be brought up in conversation. Urinary incontinence is still seen as embarrassing and shameful. But it can affect your life in so many ways - how much exercise you do, how much you see friends and even how much sex you have.

It’s so important to remember that you aren’t the only one suffering, and that there are solutions at hand.

BLADDER LEAKAGE AFFECTING YOUR LIFE? HERE’S HOW YOU AREN’T ALONE

*Does avoiding exercise sound familiar? Do you make excuses or blame work stress and time pressures? Join the club. For seventy five per cent of women with urinary incontinence, worrying about potential leakage is enough to put them off working out with others.

*Nothing is as funny as it ought to be. Half of women suffering say they are nervous about laughing in public, and nearly half say they feel self-conscious when laughing.

*Fifty six per cent of sufferers avoid social situations altogether. As all women know, the less you see friends, the more isolated you’re going to feel.

*Did you know that twenty seven per cent of women with the condition are getting less sleep? The awful feeling of needing the loo means having to get up during the night and anxiety can make it harder to drift off. Less sleep makes everything in life much more challenging.

*One in five women say they make “sex-cuses” to avoid intimacy, because they’re just too embarrassed to tell their partner the real problem.

*One in five also say this issue affects their style choices and wardrobe decisions. They will only wear dark clothes on their bottom half just in case, and twenty three per cent keep their bottom covered up for the same reason.

HELP IS AT HAND

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It’s a sensitive issue for so many, but the good news is that there are solutions out there and there’s bound to be something which can help. Go and see your GP for a chat, or open up to a friend or partner. You’ll be surprised at how sympathetic and helpful people can be.

‘In my experience, women tend to keep this issue a secret and believe they have to put up with it,’ says Dr Naomi Potter, GP and women’s health expert. ‘They don’t realise that there are so many other women going through the same thing, and that help is available to them.’

Medical experts are more than used to seeing embarrassed patients in their clinics.

’You know what, the most ashamed person is probably you,’ says Mr Zaki Almallah, consultant urologist at BMI The Priory Clinic, founding member of the Birmingham Bladder Clinic (thebladderclinic.co.uk) and who has treated patients on the Channel Four series Embarrassing Bodies.

The best way of approaching the subject is to be as frank as you can with friends and family, particularly your husband or partner. It will be easier than you think, they will probably accept the situation and want to help. Remember, it is a hard condition to hide, and your loved ones may already have wondered whether there is a problem.

‘They will probably be very practical and supportive,’ says Mr Almallah. ‘It’s just one of those things that happens. Be straight - tell them the situation, how common it is, and say that you are going to deal with it.’

Now you can seek a solution knowing that you have the support of those closest to you and look forward to more confidence and a better quality of life. ‘This isn’t a condition you just have to live with; there are a range of treatment options available which are easy to use and clinically proven to help,’ says Dr Potter.